Introduction to The Bowland Shale Formation, UK: Processes and Resources

Abstract

This volume showcases recent geological, geophysical, and geochemical research on the Carboniferous Bowland Shale Formation, a classic Palaeozoic black shale unit. The Bowland Shale spans ca. 16 Myrs from the upper Visean to mid-Bashkirian, and is perhaps the most important and controversial black shale unit in the UK. The volume focuses on the key Carboniferous basins in the Midlands, northern England, and North Wales. The main basins assessed in the volume are the Craven Basin, including the Bowland sub-basin, the Blacon Basin, the Edale Basin, the Widmerpool Gulf and the Gainsborough Trough. The Bowland Shale and equivalent units are described and interpreted in terms of sedimentary, geochemical, and physical properties and processes, basin-forming events, hydrocarbon prospectivity, mineralization, and heat and fluid flow in the subsurface.